Tinkle to his team: “This is our time”

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Prior to the start of the 349th Civil War, Wayne Tinkle told his team that this was their time and that they needed to go and take what belonged to them.

Tinkle’s team clearly got the message, as OSU ran through Oregon.

“We talked about all that this team has been through since year one and being aware of who we are and who we represent,” Tinkle said. “Guys this is our time to shine. You guys have earned the right to be great and go out and make it happen.”

“We challenged our guys at halftime to get a little more aggressive in attacking,” Tinkle said. “The big three (Drew Eubanks, Tres Tinkle and Stephen Thompson Jr.) did a great job, but Seth (Berger) was unbelievable to start the second half.”

Offensively, the Beavers were led by the tremendous play of Tinkle (19 points, 12 rebounds, and five rebounds), Thompson Jr. (16, three, and six), Eubanks (15 and eight), and Seth Berger (12, five and three) who all contributed in different ways to lead the Beavers to their first Civil War win since 2016.

Coming into the Civil War, Oregon didn’t look like the same team that they had been in years past. Granted, that is to be expected after the massive departures that they’ve had, but even so, Oregon looked out of rhythm and confused at times.

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After losing four starters off of last years’ Final Four squad, the leadership and reigns of the Oregon program were handed to former West Linn point guard Payton Pritchard. After playing fantastic as a true-freshman, Dana Altman and Co. knew Pritchard would only be better in his sophomore campaign and so far this season he has done just that.

Pritchard has become the straw that stirs the Ducks as when he plays well they win and when he doesn’t they usually lose. Tinkle and his fellow coaches knew that they had to get a game plan in place to make life difficult on him. The Beavers caught a break early in the contest when Pritchard picked up two quick fouls that really kept him out of rhythm for most of the contest.

While he finished with nine points, five rebounds and one assist, the dynamic sophomore guard wasn’t putting up his usual numbers and because of that, the Beavers were able to leave Gill Coliseum victorious.

“We were going to attack him,” Tinkle said. “He got a wrong play at the wrong time foul early and then got another one so he had to come out and that might have impacted him. You saw how dang good he is in the second half. We kept telling our guys that we can’t celebrate after a made basket and that we have to get back because he came on the fly and got to the rim for some nice finishes.”

Altman echoed what his counterpart noted about the early foul trouble and contested looks plaguing Pritchard.

“He took a couple contested three’s in the zone and got those two quick fouls and didn’t play much,” Altman said.

Not only did OSU just take Pritchard off his game, the Beavers took the entire Oregon team off their game as the Ducks shot just 36 percent from the floor. When Tinkle was asked why the Beavers forced the Ducks to shoot so poorly, he noted that the Beavers were simply executing better than they had been,

“We were flying around a lot more and we are getting closer to the way that we guarded in years one and two,” Tinkle said. “There were times that they drove in on us and this guy (Eubanks) at the rim was a force. He went straight up and changed a bunch of shots. That frustrated them because they couldn’t get in there and get an easy looks. Credit to him and the perimeter players for getting to their shooters.”

The Beavers were able to keep the Ducks off balance by running them off the three-point line and forcing them to take difficult shots. Oregon has a plethora of great shooters in Troy Brown, Elijah Brown, and Pritchard and those three combined to go 3-of-15 from behind the arc. Tinkle credits his team’s aggressiveness as the key to slowing down the high-flying Ducks.

“Guarding the three-point shot has been a weakness of ours a little bit from time to time but we really turned it around the second half against Utah and we know it was going to have to be a focus tonight,” Tinkle said. “We kept challenging the guys to communicate because that’s what guys have to do when playing zone or man. Our focus in the second half especially caused them some frustrations. The guys’ intensity and focus to get them off the three-point line over the course of 40 minutes really paid off.”

In addition to halting the Ducks’ three-point attack, the Beavers also did something else very well against the Ducks that they haven’t been able to do in the past.

Break the half-court trap.

Since Altman arrived at Oregon, his teams are notorious for being an aggressive, trapping defensive team that thrives on getting turnovers and forcing their opponent to make mistakes. While the Beavers weren’t flawless by any stretch, they handled Altman’s press as well as they ever have and it helped them close out the game late.

“We really handled pressure very well other than a time or two,” Tinkle said. “It was a focus as we prepared this week. We still felt that we could have thrown the ball up the court and attacked a couple more times. They went scramble mode late and full court trapped us and Kendal (Manuel) really had great poise. Now we just have to finish it off at the free-throw line a little better.”

The Beavers have a monumental task in front of them as they leave the friendly confines of Gill Coliseum for games against the Arizona schools whom both are ranked inside the top-15 in the country. However, Tinkle adds that when his team is clicking, they can do great things.

“The guys really took it to the floor and they get all the credit,” Tinkle said. “They took it to the court and weren’t going to be denied. That’s what really makes me proud. We know what we are capable of when we have that focus and tonight they sure had it for most of the game.”